Pirate Party Elected To Parliament In Iceland, First Pirate Party Victory In National Parliament

from the in-just-five-months dept

There's been a bit of political upheaval over in Iceland with this weekend's national election. As was widely expected, the "centre-right" opposition parties have returned to power, though many are pointing out that these are the same folks who "bankrupted" Iceland (though it wasn't them alone who did that...). However, in this upheaval, it appears that the brand new Pirate Party Iceland, which started just a few months ago, was able to squeak by the 5% threshold and gain what appears to be 3 Members of Parliament. That would make it the first Pirate Party victory in a national parliamentary election. As many of you already know, the Pirate Party has elected two MEPs to the European Parliament from Sweden, and there have been a number of victories in various German regional elections, though the German Pirate Party has also gone through some recent upheaval of its own. The Icelandic Pirate Party is lead by Birgitta Jónsdóttir, who is a former Member of Parliament in Iceland who got plenty of attention (including from the US government) for helping Wikileaks.

That's yet another epic win. As for the "centre-right" coming back I'm not in touch with things in Iceland but I'm inclined to believe the Icelandic voted to other faces, not the same shit (although under the hood it may be the same shit), however the people have shown their disgust. The Pirate Party is also there to prove it (along with the 'upheaval') so they will be more careful before trying anything funny again (or not and then the people will speak yet again).

We'll see a big increase in the opposition mainly in Pirate Parties getting to power around the world. I'd say that even in the US if they manage to fully register the party it's gonna snatch fairly decent wins right from the start.

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It won't happen in the UK because the mainstream parties and puppet media will just keep them out of leader debates so they do not have the same platform to be heard. It is happening already with UKIP and the Greens.

Ironically, with UKIP, they are expending so much time and expense to discredit them when the fastest way to do so is to put Farange in a debate with other leaders. That, however, is a debate for another time and place.

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Considering how the Pirate Parties are intertwined with the Internet (which is a platform where information can flow in a quite free and fast way) I don't think it's much of an issue. At least not in more developed countries that have deeper internet adoption by the general population.

The fact that they managed to actually get any position in the govt at all is evidence of the phenomenon.

What's left for debate is how long it'll take for them to have enough power to force the rest to notice them.

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I'd be more enthusiastic if not for my experience with local government. Ours are quite corrupt, occasionally, we manage to elect a good honest person. Within 6 months to a year, they are as nearly as bad as the previous ones. I don't think this is perception, I've known a couple before they were candidates, & couldn't believe how they were voting a year after election. Apparently $$ is one hell of a drug.

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Indeed and humans are greedy by nature it seems. I wonder what would happen if everyone gave in to greed as they do. Imagine a legion wanting to grab their positions and destroy them? could be entertaining.

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Human is highly adaptable to it's environment. Put a highly noble/honest/what-other-good-trait person in a highly corrupt environment, and (s)he is most likely to be "adapted" to that environment. Of course once a while there come a person who defies the norm and make the environment adapt to him/her instead, but that's an exception/anomaly rather than a rule.

Yes the $$ is a factor, but not the only one. The most dangerous is the "slippery slope" actions. "To achieve common good I must sacrifice X," and hell break loose from there. As they say, "the road to hell is full of good intentions".

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Trouble is, though, that is such a small slice of the overall electorate. Middle England are the ones who matter in an election and they are the ones who care least about what the Pirate Party stand for. They are to busy moaning about immigration and benefits to even notice that our rights and freedoms are being eroded. PPUK just can't get any traction.

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And 99.99% of the people settled. Yeah, that was a total fiasco. Keep focusing on the handful of mistakes, and completely ignore the millions and millions of pirates who get away with it, or at worst, get a slap on the wrist via a DMCA takedown. You guys are totally hilarious. Where does Mike you guys? Alleyways and dumpsters?

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Great changes come in homeopathic doses. When the dose reach a critical mass the change will be drastic. We must do our job and spread the news, raise awareness. It's working like ants, a small bit at a time.

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That would apply to me as well but this is something we both agree with, that it's a just, fair right that should be respected. As much as we agree that killing is not right. You see, copyright is much more controversial and hardly a socially accepted norm (as it is today).

See the difference? I think we should both be glad that there are laws we both agree with that prevents us from mutually smashing each other to death.

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This is not your imagination. It's a problem with the corruption being systemic, and is why just voting the right people in is woefully inadequate in terms of fixing the problem.

The problem facing a good, honest politician is this: if you don't play along with the corruption, you can get nothing at all accomplished. So, if you're worried about effecting the greatest good, your choice is to engage in the corruption yourself to some degree and get something good accomplished, or remain pure and unsullied, but accomplish nothing whatsoever.

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handful?

they sue

dead people
people who dont even have internet
people who dont even have eletricity(at least 3 cases i know of)
underage kids
printers
fax machiens

i could go on and on, I could also point out that the RIAA has raided more then 1 legit record/music store with swat style gettups causing damage to the business and their rep, and they have NEVER ONCE found pirated music in one of these raids.

they have however confiscated mix cd's from legit publishers and burned cd's and home copied/mastered cassettes by local indi bands/artists destroying them with the excuse they must be pirated because if they arent pressed/professionally copied they cant be legit...

funny...since I have helpe 3 bands setup their own audio mastering systems and helped them get out their first albums that they used normal quality cd-r media and dvd burners to produce......

your so full of shit your eyes must be brown.....

oh and yes a few cases of people folding and taking plees have happened, but, when your looking at a stack of trumped up felony charges and years in prison, and you dont have the millions to fight the charges....

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Which rights are you talking about...
Please consider carefully especially when you realise and understand that copyright or any Intellectual property is NOT a right at all instead it is a LIMITED PRIVILEGE ONLY!

Whereas the ability to COPY is a fundamental right that is constrained by statute, and therefore not inherent, by the limited privilege of copyright

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or at worst, get a slap on the wrist via a DMCA takedown

So your now stating that the DMCA is a punitive measure? hmmm that's interesting would you like to further place your foot in your mouth or would you rather just let that statement slide until it's taken out and cited when you claim that the DMCA "does nothing for rights holders and is topthless, and should be a punishment device backed by law instead" or words to that effect??? ... your move

Hallelujah!! About time. I don't remember a lot from my youth because of the haze I was operating in, but I remember this lesson from George Lucas. The most poignant line every stated in a movie and I quote from Star Wars "The tighter your grip, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." In other words MPAA and RIAA, we smell your foul stench. The corporations forget that according to the supreme court they are only 1 person, 1 entity. So treat as such. Vote against anything the corporations want. Believe me when I say no corporation is your friend! Unless you are an American politician then that's all that matters. The hell with the people.

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In 1834 the Supreme Court ruled in Wheaton v. Peters (a case similar to the British Donaldson v Beckett of 1774) that although the author of an unpublished work had a common law right to control the first publication of that work, the author did not have a common law right to control reproduction following the first publication of the work.[3]

Their are no rights to be respected in copyrights, only privileges granted to creators and which are often transferred to middlemen. It is these middlemen claiming their rights are being taken away from them when in facy they are trying to protect a privilege which restricts other people rights.